THE 1970'S FASHION

Maxi dresses, granny style dresses, long leather boots, natural colors, curly hair, disco fashion and hippies. After the idealistic and often blurred utopia of the 60's, the flattering and cynical 70's came along.

Reaching the 1970’s, the bubble had seemingly burst with the daily news of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal. These times had brought a creeping distrust in government within the US and Europe. With this trend, a large majority of society was drawn to the ‘hippie lifestyle’ and of course, carried through in fashion.  

FASHION

By 1970 women were more independent then anything that had been seen before.  If they wanted to wear a short mini skirt one day and a maxi dress, midi skirt or hot pants the next, that's what they did. For eveningwear, women often wore full length maxi dresses, evening trousers or glamorous halter neck catsuits. Some of the dresses oozed Motown glamour, others less so. One frequently worn style was the Granny dress with a high neck. Sometimes the stand neck was pie-crust frilled, or lace trimmed. Often they were made from a floral print design in a warm brushed fabric or viscose rayon crepe which draped and gathered well into empire line styles.

WOMEN

Feminism was taken up in the seventies on a wide scale, even to its most radical extremes. This was strongly seen in fashion with more and more women wearing trousers, jumpsuits and suits in general. This was also the time that lots of female entrepreneurs made great successes in the fashion industry with examples such as Barbara Hulanicki and Mary Quant.

NOSTALGIA

Despite, or maybe even because of the militant feminism and the grim cultural scene, 70's image was, on the whole, considered nostalgic and romantic. The inspiration for this came from the Belle Époque and also the 30's when things were simpler, rosier and feminine beauty and femininity was important. It was also the time when girls started to go through their grandmother's old wardrobe to hunt for lost treasures. And so it was also the first time in history that recycling and vintage really became a trend and with this, the first vintage shops began to appear in the bigger cities.

Isabella Rosselini wearing Pucci.                                                                      Biba girls. By the 70's, Biba was a well established London based brand in London.